Preserving our Film Heritage

COLLECTING, CATALOGUING AND DIGITIZING

A film may be released at a particular time, but it is viewed differently at different times and it is this timeless quality of cinema that makes it so important to preserve films.

In order to preserve our invaluable but increasingly endangered corpus of moving images, the foundation will work towards the acquisition, collection and documentation of film and film related material. This would include conserving and preserving all moving images in their original format using best storage practices and the cataloguing and digitization of the material to improve public access.

Another essential aspect of archiving that we will focus on is the continual search for India’s lost films, their recovery, preservation and restoration.

At present, the foundation is archiving the founder’s personal collection of films and film-related memorabilia that includes both Indian and foreign films in a temperature and humidity controlled vault and an extensive collection of original film posters, cameras from the beginning of cinema, lobby cards, letters, scripts etc.

We can also provide logistical support and facilitate technical collaboration to advise studios, archives and individual copyright holders on optimum storage practices for film preservation and restoration.